70-Year-Old Woman: Only Christian Left in Terrorized Egyptian Village

Here is an idea of what happened in Dahshur, Egypt recently—when thousands of Muslims attacked and burned Christian homes, forcing the region’s Christian population to flee for their lives, in a feud that started when a Christian laundry-employee accidentally burned a Muslim man’s shirt (read the story here).

The following is an account of the only Christian left behind, an elderly woman. First reported on Al Ahramand translated by SD, it gives an idea of what Christians under the Muslim Brotherhood are likely to continue to experience:

"I went to the bakery to buy bread for the whole family, when I returned there was nobody. They told me your family members have gone and left you behind. I said ‘but Our Lord never leaves us.’" With these words, Samiha started her interview with Ahram Gate, inside one of the poor dwellings of Dahshur village.

Seventy-year old Samiha is the only Christian currently present in the village of Dahshur; she had no knowledge of the fight or sectarian conflicts that took place in the village. When she came back with the bread she bought, she found herself alone, and all the houses of Christian families in "Darb Al Nassara" i.e. "Christians' Pathway,” and other parts of the village, are closed, and her family gone.

The old lady was unable to make out what exactly happened, especially after a group of young people broke into her house at night, smashing the door and causing her to panic and hide in the cattle barn, to save her life. "Those were hard moments" she said; "life is not valueless, my children."

Samiha stayed in the barn until one of her Muslim neighbors in Darb Al Nassara, Mohamed Al-Akeer, came and got her out and told her she was safe. She now sleeps every night next to a Muslim lady, who lives in Al-Akeer's house, called Umm Mohamed. During the day, Samiha stays inside her house whose doors are broken, looking along the empty pathway, wondering when the evicted families will return.